Rare ‘super blood Moon’ eclipse to put on stunning display in January: What to know

Stargazers will witness a trifecta of lunar events in the
New Year — a total lunar eclipse, a super blood Moon and a “Wolf
Moon,” a nickname for a full Moon that appears in the middle of winter.

Millions of people across North and South America and
portions of western Europe and Africa will be able to catch the rare sight
overnight on January 20 into January 21, according to National Geographic. For a few hours, the moon
will give off a bright reddish glow.

“A total lunar eclipse can happen only when the Sun, Earth and Moon are
perfectly lined up — anything less than perfection creates a partial lunar
eclipse or no eclipse at all,” Space.com
explains.

You won’t want to miss it. Earth won’t experience another total lunar
eclipse, which occurs when the entire Moon enters Earth’s shadow, until May
2021, NASA estimates.

Here’s everything you need to know about the unusual phenomenon.

When can I see the 2019 total lunar eclipse?

The 2019 total lunar eclipse will last approximately 1 hour and 2 minutes, Space.com reports. It will kick off around 11:41 p.m.
ET on Jan. 20 and peak around 12:16 a.m. ET on Jan. 21.

The longest possible lunar eclipse is 1 hour and 47 minutes, according to EarthSky. The longest total lunar eclipse of
the last century was on July 16, 2000, and lasted for 1 hour and 46.4 minutes,
the space site notes.

What is a “super blood moon”?

A supermoon is a new or full moon that appears closer than usual
because it’s the closest distance the moon gets to Earth during its orbit,
known as “perigee” located about 363,000 kilometers from Earth, NASA says.

Supermoons typically appear 14 percent larger and 30 percent brighter than
the average moon seen in the sky each night, Dr. Noah Petro, a research
scientist from NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, previously told Fox News. However, it’s hard to really spot
the difference with the naked eye.

The term “blood” stems from the rusty brownish-red color the Moon
turns during a total lunar eclipse.

“That’s because some of the sunlight going through Earth’s atmosphere
is bent around the edge of our planet and falls onto the moon’s surface.
Earth’s air also scatters more shorter-wavelength light (in colors such as
green or blue); what’s left is the longer-wavelength, redder end of the
spectrum,” Space.com states on its website.

What is a “wolf moon”?

The January full moon was nicknamed the “wolf Moon” — and
occasionally the “Old Moon” — by Native American tribes after wolves
that howled outside as they hunted for food in mid-winter.

“This is an age-old practice, nothing new. Ancient peoples commonly
tracked the seasons by following the lunar calendar (versus today’s solar
calendar),” The Old Farmer’s Almanac explains
in a post online.

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Revelation 1:3 "Blessed is the one who reads aloud the words of this prophecy, and blessed are those who hear, and who keep what is written in it, for the time is near".
Tommy Settipani,
Watchman for Christ